Dear ISSDP colleagues,
Members of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP) are invited to nominate themselves, or other members, for vacancies that have arisen on the ISSDP Board. The vacancies are to replace Kari Lancaster, who is stepping down, and to fill the maximum number of Board members permitted.
ISSDP Board: The role of the ISSDP is to advance education and research on drug policy through publication, dissemination, and engagement. Board members are the Charity Trustees of the Society. Their role is to manage the property and business of the Society. This involves discussions on conferences/seminars, meetings, relations with other associations and the principles/policies of ISSDP. Board meetings are held at least twice a year, in person at the annual conference and thereafter online. In between meetings, business is dealt with by email and though the work of sub-committees. Board members serve for a term of four years. This year, newly elected members will start in September 2024.
The current ISSDP Board consists of the President (Caitlin Hughes, AU); the Vice-President (Beau Kilmer, USA) and seven other members (Rebecca Askew, UK; John Collins, AT; Karen Joe Laidler, HK; Gideon Lasco, PH; Aileen O’Gorman, SCO/UK; Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, US; Liesbeth Vandam, PT). The Founding President, Peter Reuter, USA, is an ex-officio Board attendant while Lucy Strang (ISSDP Treasurer) is also a Board attendee.
Nominations and election process: The Board is elected from and by the membership. It is a rule of the Society’s by-laws that Board members must be drawn from at least four different countries. We wish particularly to encourage nominations from non-Anglo members/countries. Each member of the Board is considered to represent the country of their primary institutional affiliation, regardless of country of birth or citizenship.
Nominations should be supported by a proposer and seconder who should both be members of ISSDP. The proposer and seconder should ensure that the person nominated is a member and willing to serve. Self-nominations, with a proposer and seconder, are welcome also. The candidate, proposer and seconder should be copied into the nomination email to indicate their support. Nominations should attach a one-page statement with the details below. This will be circulated with the ballot paper.
- a short biography of the nominee;
- a note on the skills they would bring to the role of Board Member; and
- why they wish to stand/what they hope to accomplish as a member of the Board.
Nominations should be emailed to Aileen O’Gorman (Aileen.O’Gorman@uws.ac.uk) by Monday 22 July 2024.
After the closing date for nominations, a ballot paper listing all nominees will be circulated to the membership for electronic voting. Members may vote for as many candidates as there are seats open for election: this number will be confirmed when the ballot is circulated. Elections will be held in August 2024.
Please contact any of the nominations committee below if you have any questions.
Nominations Committee: Aileen O’Gorman (Chair); Judith Aldridge (judith.aldridge@manchester.ac.uk) and Nicola Singleton (nicolasingleton22@gmail.com).
It is with great sadness that ISSDP reports the passing of our friend and colleague, Tomáš Zábranský MD, PhD. Tomáš was part of ISSDP during its origins, contributing both as a highly-regarded epidemiologist who studied blood-borne diseases and mortality among those who used drugs as well as someone who understood the importance of rigorous research reaching policy makers and the need for objective evaluation of government programs and spending. He was an early ISSDP Board member, serving the organization until 2014, sharing his knowledge and experience of how to build bridges between policy research and policy in practice. In 2014, he became the Advisor on Drug Policy to the Czech Prime Minister and later served as the Envoy of the Czech Minister of Health for the Implementation of Medical Cannabis into the Czech Medical System and for Illegal Drug Issues, thereby playing a key role in the development of the Czech drug policy. He also headed up the Czech National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (the national focal point). Tomáš never quit his academic scholarship, authoring over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals in addition to several official reports. His smile, quick wit, and razor focused intellect will be sorely missed by all of us.
